Tag Archives: Original Cornell Syncopators

Spring hasn’t yet arrived in New York, so here’s some pleasant warming: more from the Original Cornell Syncopators at the 2017 San Diego Jazz Fest, hot performances of rare music.

These Bright Sparks — college students of 20 and 21, intelligent and enthusiastic — play a kind of hot jazz that’s rarely heard these days. And they play it with love. They’re the Original Cornell Syncopators, led by multi-instrumentalist Colin Hancock. This is their five-piece incarnation, with Colin on cornet and vocal, Hannah Krall on clarinet and saxophones, Rishi Verma on trombone, Amit Mizrahi on piano, and Noah Li on drums.

If you didn’t catch them at San Diego, here is the second set I recorded, on the 26th, with Katie Cavera sitting in. And this post also has information about how you can purchase their debut CD, WILD JAZZ.

But to the hot music of November 24:

Colin introduces the band, humorously:

STEADY ROLL BLUES:

FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE BLUES:

SHAVE ‘EM DRY BLUES:

SQUEEZE ME:

THE CO-ED:

THAT SWEET SOMETHING, DEAR:

Hot times and good sounds. I don’t think the OCS has a regular gig schedule for the moment (Colin is off studying in Italy) but I look forward to reunions, merchandise, fan clubs in major cities, the PBS documentary, and more.

NEWS FLASH! This just in from Hannah Krall: “As to the current activities of the Original Cornell Syncopators, we are preparing for a performance at Cornell and a clinic with Wynton Marsalis at the end of the month.” Great news for sure.

There are many ways to honor the tradition, in jazz as well as the other arts. Let us say you are a young musician who falls in love with an artifact — the OKeh record of TIGHT LIKE THIS by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five in 1928. You can use the recorded music as an inspiration to go your own way, to play something that honors Louis but is your own creation. Or, equally honorable, you can transcribe the recorded evidence, and offer to a new audience a live performance that comes as close to the original as possible, or one that allows for individual variation within the hallowed architecture of the original.

Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks — the great progenitor — and the newer groups such as the Original Cornell Syncopators and the New Wonders follow the latter path gloriously, sometimes recreating and re-enacting, sometimes honoring the original architecture while painting the interior windowsills periwinkle.

There are many ways in which the New Wonders are special. For one thing, they offer repertoire that has not been overdone — no SINGIN’ THE BLUES, no STRUTTIN’ WITH SOME BARBECUE. They draw from recordings made by the California Ramblers, the Chicago Loopers, Tiny Parham, Red Nichols, the Goofus Five, and others — wonderful pop tunes that haven’t been played in ages. And they are a great paradox, for their approach is exact (reproducing pieces of arrangements, both instrumental and vocal, that are not easy to do) but loose. They are not museum curators, but they are not only playing the songs and moving on . . . and there is a spirit of great fun and ebullience without the least mockery or condescension. A performance or a recording by the New Wonders is a convincing bit of theatre: as if this group of beautifully-dressed young men had come to your house with the sweet notion of bringing 1927 back for a few hours. And they do it with love: the music can be precise and tender, or hot and bumptious — all in the space of a few songs.

I saw them create such wonders last August in Brice Moss’ pastoralia, and it was memorable, as you can observe here. But there were limitations to the sound my microphone could capture, and this was the pianoless New Wonders. So I am delighted to announce their debut CD, titled THE NEW WONDERS, so that no one can mistake it for anything else. It’s a delightful banquet of sounds from Messrs. Davis, McDonough, Alexander, Rattman, Engel, Lepley, and Ridenhour, as they playfully work their way through FLAMIN’ MAMIE; REACHING FOR SOMEONE; I’M MORE THAN SATISFIED; BONEYARD SHUFFLE; POOR PAPA; I GET THE BLUES WHEN IT RAINS; I’D RATHER CRY OVER YOU; PERSIAN RUG; CLORINDA; I NEED LOVIN’; SMILE, DARN YA, SMILE; JUNGLE CRAWL; I’M WALKING BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS; SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY; THE BALTIMORE.

I may be accused of ageism, but there is something particularly pleasing to hear these reasonably young (at least to me) musicians immerse themselves in music made by young musicians — an enthusiastic freshness. And there’s another delightful oddity in the New Wonders’ presentation: the vocal choruses. In my youth, we made fun of Wes Vaughan, we lifted the needle over Irving Kaufman (unless there was a hot obbligato) and in general, we waited for Bing to come along and make everything all right. Four members of The New Wonders sing (Lepley, Rattman, Alexander, and leader Davis) and they do it splendidly, not only in solo — verse as well as chorus — but in reproducing the intricate vocal parts from the Chicago Loopers date, CLORINDA and I’M MORE THAN SATISFIED — with great style, earnest without being stiff. Replaying this disc, I found myself looking forward to those beautifully-executed vocal outpourings, and I think you might share my pleasure.

Al fresco, August 2017

Hereyou can find out more about Mike and the band, and here is the band’s Facebook page. And . . . . here is the CDBaby page for the new CD.

But the best way to buy a band CD is at the gig — maybe you’ll get it signed, and you have the direct economic transfer of giving money to the musicians who have just played for you, so here is the event page for the New Wonders’ CD release party — Tuesday, March 13, 2018, from 8-10 PM at Norwood, 241 W 14th St, New York, New York 10011. Mike points out, “Norwood is a members-only club. In order to attend this event all tickets must be purchased in advance. NO tickets will be sold on the premises.” And I won’t be able to make this gig, so those of you who are waiting for more videos might have to be in attendance, if possible. It will be Wonderful.

The Original Cornell Syncopators, relaxing at the 2017 San Diego Jazz Fest.

They’re college students — 20 and 21 — they’re very intelligent and enthusiastic — and they play a kind of hot jazz that’s rarely heard these days. And they play it with love. They’re the Original Cornell Syncopators, led by multi-instrumentalist Colin Hancock. This is their five-piece incarnation, with Colin on cornet and vocal, Hannah Krall on clarinet and saxophones, Rishi Verma on trombone, Amit Mizrahi on piano, and Noah Li on drums. For this Sunday afternoon set at the San Diego Jazz Fest, they were also graced by Katie Cavera, banjo and vocal, who has graduated from her own college and now teaches by exuberant example.

The Syncopators have a special place in my heart because they are exploring different areas of hot improvised jazz that are usually neglected. I revere Louis, but this band is curious about kinds of hot jazz that are not heavily Louis-influenced; they often concentrate on bands from the Middle West: all of this is enlightening and their playing has that delightful youthful zest, the way the music must have sounded when it was brand-new, say, in 1924.

SENSATION RAG:

CHRISTINE:

WHO CAN YOUR REGULAR BE, BLUES:

FIDGETY FEET:

THE CO-ED:

ANGRY:

Here‘s a very recent profile of leader Colin Hancock, an intriguing artist and a good fellow in the bargain. And hereis the band’s Facebook page. The band has just released its debut CD — the cover below — which offers not only the quintet but the twelve-piece dance band and several other combos in between. I’ve heard a few tracks and it’s marvelous. So far, I think it is available on Spotify and iTunes, and a physical disc is in the works. Details here.

I’ve gotten into trouble for saying this, but I’m not always enthusiastic about note-for-note recreations of recordings. But what follows — music and dance from the Original Cornell Syncopators — has such energy, wit, and life force that I just might have to change my mind. The OCS, led by multi-instrumentalist and wizard Colin Hancock, is Noah Li, drums; Hannah Krall, clarinet; Amit Mizrahi, piano; Rishi Verma, trombone. Their director is Joe Salzano; their “coaches” are Dan Levinson, Hal Smith, and David Sager, so you know — even before you hear a note — that they’re all on the right path. And then there’s the splendidly mobile Crazeology Dance Troupe. I might have to visit Ithaca, New York.

Incidentally, the detailed and articulate description underneath the first video answers all the questions you had and some you didn’t know you did but are glad they are answered.

DARKTOWN STRUTTERS’ BALL is often approached far too quickly: this version is both percussive and lyrical:

BACK HOME AGAIN IN INDIANA has been worn to a nub, but this version allows us to hear it again, afresh (with a few of the original chord changes, which now sound unusual):

Most of us hear OSTRICH WALK through Bix and his Gang: this is what Bix and friends heard:

You’d better dig this JASS BAND BALL is what I say:

How deliciously heretical this music must have sounded a century ago; how refreshing it sounds today. Thank you, Creative Youngbloods! (And the OCS have other projects in mind — I suggest you subscribe to the appropriate YouTube channel for hours of satisfying and thought-provoking music. You could dance to it, I’m told, as well.